From Professional Development to Implementation: A District's Experience Implementing Mathematics Tiered Systems of Support

Abstract

This article is about a school‐district‐initiated partnership with university faculty and their effort to implement a mathematics multi‐tiered system of support (MTSS). In addition to reporting research about MTSS implementation, we describe how this district translated research into practice. We also share the perceptions of key stakeholders about implementing mathematics MTSS in their district. We found that stakeholders identified time and human capacity as barriers to implementation, while the primary facilitator to implementation was identified as the acquisition of concrete strategies and tools supporting instruction. These stakeholder perceptions have implications for other districts with limited resources attempting to implement mathematics MTSS in their buildings through professional development and coaching.

Contradictions and their manifestations in professional learning communities in mathematics

“…Our study also shows that, when the teacher leader is recruited from the teacher group, it is not always easy to go from being a colleague to being accepted as a leader. Structures are needed to make this work, and in line with Mason et al (2019), we suggest that time is a critical structure in this endeavor.…”

“…PLCs should be extended over a long duration of time, and teachers need time for engaging in PLCs (Desimone, 2009). There is a need to designate time during which teachers' learning activities are prioritized and they are not constantly interrupted by other issues (Mason et al, 2019). It takes time to develop norms and attitudes in teacher groups, moving from simply sharing ideas toward a collaborative learning environment where teachers explore and develop their teaching practices (Vangrieken et al, 2017).…”

Urban Secondary School Administrators and Faculty Perceptions of Multitiered System of Supports/Response to Intervention

“…From the current study data, general education teachers do not consider themselves interventionists but instead consider themselves content specialists. To mitigate this barrier, administrators, and those in charge of designing and providing professional development should rethink how to deliver MTSS/RtI professional development (Bartholomew, & De, 2017;Bohanon et al, 2021;Fisher & Frey, 2011;Mason et al, 2019). Small group intervention instruction modeling with the teacher's students would be the best recommendation.…”

Does Intervention Session Length Matter? A Comparison of a Math Intervention Across Three Durations

“…The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) RtI Mathematics Practice Guide (Gersten et al, 2009) recommends a specific dose form (i.e., small group), session length (i.e., 20-40 min), dose frequency (i.e., four to five times per week), and total treatment duration (i.e., 6-12 weeks). However, it is often not feasible for schools to implement tier 2 math intervention to these guidelines due to resource allocation, time constraints, and personnel availability concerns (Mason et al, 2019).…”

“…Of many barriers that may be contributing to these gaps in implementation, time may be the most significant (Mason et al, 2019). Intervention time blocks may be devoted to remediating reading problems, leaving math difficulties unattended.…”